


Darktouched

by WyndGael



Category: The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Blood and Gore, Forbidden Love, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, OC/Canon, Sex, Torture, pairing - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:02:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24595720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WyndGael/pseuds/WyndGael
Summary: SkekEl (OC) has always secretly (or not quite so secretly) fancied the Emperor skekSo. Once things begin to get out of control starting with Rian's escape and the Gelfling Rebellion, skekEl finally gets her wish and brings out a softer side of the Darkening-afflicted Emperor.Work-in-progress.
Relationships: SkekSo/SkekEl (OC)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	Darktouched

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a dream I had several months ago where I was a Skeksis living in the Castle. This story will include OC/self insert x cannon pairings, blood and gore, mild torture, and some mature scenes.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own any characters belonging to the Dark Crystal/Jim Henson Company/Netflix

The cry rang out from one of the castle's lower chambers, a shrill, bird-like shriek that echoed from the many parapets of dark stone. Within the chamber from where the cry had emitted a creature was clutching at her right eye while dark red blood welled up and dripped from between her long fingers, each tipped with a sharp, curved claw.

This creature was a Skeksis, one of the sixteen Lords of the Crystal of Truth, the heart of the world of Thra, suspended above a bottomless chasm of air and flame deep within the castle. This Skeksis was clad in robes of green and silver, adorned with many furs, bones, and feathers; a visual testament to her profession and identity. She was skekEl, the Beast Master, tasked with the care and research of all animals of use to the Crystal Lords.

“Spit and dung!” SkekEl spat, pressing her hand harder against the bleeding wound and glaring with one piercing eye at the offending creature that had struck her. A crystal viper, a rare species from the vast Crystal Desert, stared defiantly back at her from the worktable, hissing a warning that it would strike again if trifled with. The Beast Master hissed back at the serpent.

_Foolish. So very foolish._ She thought. Part of her wanted to kill the insolent creature for having dared to strike her, but her logic quelled her justified anger. She had milked the venom from this creature for many trine, but today had not used the handling hook, believing foolishly that the viper had grown used to her touch and that she was fast enough to avoid a provoked strike. A hundred trine ago, perhaps she had been fast enough, but time had since slowed her hands. Eternal life, unfortunately, did not also mean eternal youth.

Shaking back the dark, bedraggled hair that had fallen into her face and sending a few droplets of blood to further stain the work-worn table, the Beast Master took up the handling hook and used it to quickly maneuver the crystal viper back into its enclosure. Now safe from further assault she moved her hand away from her eye.

The viper had struck at her face as she had lifted it from the enclosure, luckily only grazing her rather than latching on. The bite both burned and throbbed at once and skekEl's eye was effectively swollen shut while her head was starting to spin as the venom began to take effect. SkekEl had not a clue how the crystal viper's venom would affect her as no Skeksis had ever been bitten before, but she knew she had to do something about it sooner rather than later.

Grumbling, she made ready to leave the vivarium, growling back at the viper. “If I go blind in this eye because of you, be sure that I will feed you to the spitter!” She addressed the animal before stepping out and into the hall.

She took a ponderous route down into the lower levels of the castle, being sure to avoid any guard and staying away from areas of more frequent traffic; the last thing she wanted was to run into any of her Skeksis brethren and face their sneers at her failure.

As she rounded a corner she came full upon the Chamberlain, the cunning, slinking Skeksis was one of the very last she wished to run into in her current state. Turning around swiftly, hoping she wouldn't be noticed, she was stopped by a querulous, mincing voice. “Ah, Beast Master! Going down to visit friend Scientist, hmmm?”

SkekEl tapped her tail once in annoyance, but had no other choice than to address the Chamberlain in her turn. She turned toward him, smiling as if nothing at all was the matter although she trembled a little. “SkekSil, I wasn't expecting you down here. Yes, I am on my way to pay a friendly visit to the Scientist, so if you'll excuse me.” She said, making a move to step past the Chamberlain who moved to block her way. SkekSil's green eyes widened as he caught sight of skekEl's bleeding face and swollen eye. “Hmmm, my my! Such an unsightly injury!” He said. Suddenly he grinned toothily and most unpleasantly. “Such injury may slow down work. Perhaps Emperor should be informed, hmm, yes?”

“No no! That won't be necessary!” SkekEl interjected quickly, feeling her heart skip a beat out of fear of just the mention of the Emperor. He would certainly be most displeased to learn that his Beast Master had failed and injured herself in something so routine.

“Just a scratch, you see, nothing serious. I was just on my way to ask skekTek for a simple poultice.” SkekEl insisted, pushing past the Chamberlain. SkekSil made no move to stop her, but his whimpering “hmmmmmm,” followed her for a while down the dimly lit hall.

Finally she reached the Chamber of Life, the Scientist's lab. Stepping under the low doorway she made her way past the animals the Scientist kept for his experiments. “Scientist!” She called, finally allowing an edge of fear into her voice.

Illuminated mainly by the fiery glow given off by the chasm leading to the depths of Thra the Scientist didn't even look up from what he was doing. “Not now, skekEl, I'm busy.” He grumbled, his beak low over whatever it was he was focused so intently upon at the moment. “It's important this time, skekTek.” SkekEl insisted, coming over to the side of the Scientist's worktable. “I've been bitten by a venomous subject, and now I can't see!” This last part seemed to get skekTek's attention and he looked up with a mildly interested grunt.

“Ha! So one of your precious pets finally got the best of you, eh?” He cackled. SkekEl's brows drew downwards in a frown, the motion pulling painfully at her swollen eye. “This is no time for jest.” She retorted. The Scientist let out a bemused snort, reaching to tilt skekEl's head back with one hand while with the other prodded at the gash the crystal viper had left.

“Hm, I see no sign of progressing necrosis to the immediate tissue.” SkekTek said while skekEl let out a rasping hiss of pain. SkekTek released her and motioned to a metal examination chair to the right of the table. “Have a seat then, and I'll see what can be done about it.” He said. SkekEl sat down and leaned back while skekTek shuffled around the table. Using a small light he leaned over skekEl's face to get a better look at the bite. “Mm hm.” He pondered.

Carefully he pried apart skekEl's eyelid and shone the light into her eye, watching how her pupil reacted. SkekEl flinched out of pain and the bright light so close to her face, letting out another hiss. “Keep still.” SkekTek said curtly.

He was silent for a moment as he examined the bite. “Other than edema and generalized irritation of the dermis, it doesn't seem like the venom is having much of an effect.” SkekTek said after a while. “Are you sure no optic nerves have been damaged? My vision is cloudy and dim in that eye.” SkekEl replied. She had suspected that the viper's venom wouldn't prove to be deadly to her, since the animal itself preyed upon small creatures; but eyes were a sensitive organ, after all.

“There does appear to be some bleeding behind the cornea.” SkekTek said after another short pause. He straightened up and set the light down. “Luckily that can be easily remedied.” He said, turning to a short cabinet and rummaging around until he withdrew a long syringe.

SkekEl let out a yelp and leapt up quickly from the examination chair, stepping so that the chair was between her and the Scientist. “Are you mad?!” She exclaimed. SkekTek let out an exasperated sigh and rolled his eyes. “Oh, come now. It's a highly simple procedure, and you're unlikely to feel much pain at all.” He retorted. “You can't expect me to sit still while you shove that bit of steel in my eye, not while I'm conscious anyway. Would it be unreasonable to put me under anesthesia?” SkekEl implored, wringing her hands nervously. SkekTek looked incredulous. “I can't waste anesthetics on something like that. It's not something that's readily available or easy to come by.” He explained with an annoyed growl. This was becoming ridiculous for him, and he had far more important things to get back to.

All of a sudden skekEl got an idea: make a deal with the Scientist, and there was one thing skekEl knew he wouldn't possibly be able to resist. “If I may.” She began, a smile playing at the corner of her beak. “I propose to you that, if you would be so willing to put myself under anesthesia for your procedure, then I am willing to allow you to perform exploratory surgery upon me, however you desire.” She said in a voice as sweet as honey.

The Scientist blinked in surprise. Was the Beast Master really that desperate that she would allow herself to be cut open willingly? SkekTek relished the thought of further increasing his knowledge regarding the anatomy and functioning of his own kind. After all, he had never received a chance to do so before, but it seemed almost too good to be true.

“Are you absolutely positive you would allow me to risk your life in such a procedure?” SkekTek inquired. “I have every confidence in you, my friend. I know you wouldn't allow anything ill to happen to me under your knife, especially seeing how the Emperor would not take too kindly to _murder_.” SkekEl replied.

It was true she did have faith in the Scientist's skill, enough so that she harbored little fear of dying by his hand. If nothing else she knew that skekTek desperately sought the Emperor's approval and feared his wrath above all else, as did she.

SkekTek let out a haughty breath and growled: “Very well, then.” He said. He then turned his back toward skekEl, replacing the syringe back within the cabinet. “Return here tomorrow after the Ceremony of the Sun.” He said without looking back at her. SkekEl let out a sigh of relief. “Tomorrow, then.” She agreed.

****

Later toward the end of the day found skekEl within her chambers, feeding her own personal pets, her water nippers. Fascinating aquatic creatures with paddle-like tails and razor sharp teeth; they made short work of the small red worms skekEl dropped into their tank.

A pale water nipper, and skekEl's personal favorite, stared at her from within the tank with its unblinking, lidless eyes. SkekEl stared back at it. “Don't look at me like that, I know what I'm doing.” She said.

The water nipper bobbed gently up and down in the water, splaying it's thin legs so that it remained buoyant.

“It's not as if there's too much risk.” SkekEl continued to address the creature. She touched her still-swollen and throbbing eye. “My other option is to go blind.”

The water nipper began to slowly float down to the bottom of the tank.

“And no, I don't care if the Scientist's original procedure is safer, I'm not doing it.” SkekEl retorted.

The water nipper had reached the bottom and was now nosing at a female. SkekEl turned away from the tank with a scoff. “You worry too much about me.” She said.

****

The next day harbored the usual activity around the castle. Podlings scurried about, making sure all was to the Lords' liking, while the Gelfling guard went through their morning routines of drills and training. As the suns inched slowly across the sky, the Skeksis made ready.

Once all three suns met at their zenith the Skeksis gathered within the Crystal Chamber, taking their usual places around the Crystal. The light of the suns shone down upon the Crystal's surface, casting out beams of light that fell upon the upturned faces of each Skeksis.

The Skeksis had discovered this long ago. Using the sunlight refracted from the Crystal they were able to steal life from both the Crystal and the celestial bodies themselves. It was this secret which enabled them to cheat death and continue to live on. Their Ceremony of the Sun.

Once the suns moved out of position and the light faded from the Crystal the ceremony came to an end and the usual chatter and grumblings of the Skeksis was taken up.

“I don't know about you, but that was less invigorating than usual.” SkekLach complained loudly to skekOk the Scroll Keeper. SkekOk scoffed at the Collector. “Oh, rubbish.” He replied. “Nothing is ever invigorating to you.”

“Some things _used_ to be.” SkekLach sniffed, blowing her nose loudly into her hanky and continuing to grumble quietly to herself.

Two paces from the Beast Master's left side the Chamberlain leaned in close to the Emperor, who stood gazing at the Crystal pensively, one ringed finger brought up to his chin. “Hmm, Emperor, the Crystal does seem to be somewhat… lacking.” SkekSil spoke quietly, but skekEl wasn't able to listen to the Emperor's response as the Scientist approached her.

“Shall we?” He said, beckoning back to the passageway which led to the Chamber of Life with a toothy grin. Steeling herself skekEl exited the Crystal Chamber, leaving the Emperor and Chamberlain to converse together in private.

Once within the lab skekTek gestured to his worktable, now cleared off and appearing to have been polished. “Here we are now, this is your last chance to back out.” He said, locking his amber eyes with skekEl's with a deadly seriousness. SkekEl bared her teeth in defiance. “I'm no coward.” She replied. A smile twitched at the corner of skekTek's beak. “I never suggested you were.”

He said. SkekEl set aside her staff, then stripped herself down and lay upon the table as skekTek removed his worn gloves, washing his hands in a shallow basin of strong-smelling liquid before shaking his hands dry and turning to skekEl's side.

He took up a syringe filled with a dark pinkish fluid, tapping it with his claws to clear it of any bubbles. SkekEl lay still, watching the Scientist's every move like a hawk as he inserted the needle into the crook of her arm. He looked at her incredulously. “Not bothered by needles now?” He queried mockingly. SkekEl sniffed disdainfully. “There's a difference,” She said. “Between one's eyes… and… and...” Her words dribbled away as the injection anesthetized her, sending her into deep senselessness.

“Well, that's that.” SkekTek said, placing the empty syringe aside and taking up a separate, larger one. “At least she'll be quiet now.”

He then attended to her injured eye. It was much less swollen than it had been the day before and he had no trouble prying the eyelid apart, using a pair of clamps to keep the eye open. Piercing the long hollow needle into the pupil the Scientist was able to remove the blood and edema fluid that had pooled behind skekEl's cornea and prevented her from seeing much more than foggy images. That finished (in so short a time skekTek wondered again why the Beast Master had made such a fuss about it), skekTek then covered the eye with a thick gauze pad, securing it in place with bandaging wrapped up and around skekEl's head to allow it to heal without further infection.

Now the Scientist could focus on what he was really looking forward to. Using his sharpest scalpel he cut a neat slash from the top of skekEl's belly up to her breast-bone. The cut was so clean and had been done with such skill that hardly any blood had welled up, although as skekTek pulled the pale flesh back and held it in place with more clamps a gush of life-warm blood spilled out onto the table. No matter, no matter. SkekTek would assure that little more blood would be lost during his exploring.

“Ah! Fascinating!” He spoke aloud to himself, watching skekEl's exposed beating heart. He paused a moment to make a quick sketch of the corresponding arteries and direction of blood flow in his notes before leaning back over the Beast Master.

A little time had passed as the Scientist explored the inner workings of skekEl's body, taking the time to jot down quick notes and diagrams here and there. He was so engrossed in his work that he didn't notice the tall dark figure who had entered the room, but his blood ran cold as soon as he heard the deep imposing voice. This voice, usually so very aristocratic and melodious, was now filled with rage.

“Scientist! What have you done?!” The Emperor demanded. “Sire!” SkekTek yelped, jumping and dropping his tools upon the floor. “No need for alarm! I was only just-” SkekTek was cut off as the Emperor swung his scepter, smashing the glass bottles and vials upon the nearest desk, their contents spilling out upon various records of the Scientist's research.

“How _dare_ you?!” He boomed, storming across the room with his blue eyes blazing icily. “No, no, Emperor! I can explain!” SkekTek stuttered as the Emperor reached for him, clutching him by the neck with one hand while the other brandished the scepter. SkekTek could feel the cold metal of the rings that adorned several of the Emperor's claws digging into his throat while the Emperor leaned in so close that their beaks nearly touched.

“You know the law! No Skeksis may kill another! This is _treason!_ ” The Emperor raged, his grip tightening upon the Scientist's throat until the latter began to splutter. “No! No!” SkekTek screeched, both hands coming up to grasp the Emperor's arm. “She lives! She volunteered to this willingly!” SkekTek begged the Emperor to heed him and see reason.

The Emperor looked at the Beast Master. It was plain to see from her red and opened chest that her heart was still beating, and her breast still rose and fell with breath, indeed, she was still alive.

Slowly the Emperor withdrew from the Scientist, beginning to wheeze as the shock and rage began to ebb from him. “I-it's just an experiment, you see? The Beast Master is unharmed.” SkekTek said in a thin voice, gasping and nursing his garroted neck. The Emperor paused for a moment to catch his breath before facing the Scientist, his eyes still narrowed in thinly contained anger. “Revive her immediately. And if you ever try something like this again, I will see you flayed upon your table.” He snarled before gathering his robes and beginning to leave the lab. “Don't worry, sire! I promise I shall never attempt something like this again!” SkekTek whimpered after the Emperor.

Once out of the Scientist's sight the Emperor leaned heavily against the wall, clutching at a stitch in his chest and continuing to wheeze and breathe heavily. He wasn't about to let the Scientist, or anyone else see; but the sudden shock and horror from just moments ago had taken more of a toll upon him than he would like to admit. Taking a moment to gather himself he stood up straight, adjusted his collar, and continued on his way.

SkekTek also had to take a moment to gather himself, his heart still pounding within his chest. “Presumptuous, contentious Emperor.” He grumbled to himself, leaning over to pick up the instruments he had dropped. “Thra forbid he ever come to me for help.” He continued. He then let out a sigh of defeat, arching his head back as if one in agony. “Is there no one who can comprehend my erudite genius?”

Without further ado, though with still an occasional ill-tempered growl, the Scientist began to close the surgical slice he had made in the Beast Master's torso; tediously tying each small stitch to assure quick recovery time. With that task finished the Scientist administered the injection that would reverse the anesthesia. Now all that was left was to wait for the Beast Master to awaken.

“Well, at least I was able to take some records before the Emperor so rudely interrupted, it wasn't a veritable loss.” SkekTek said, leafing briefly through the notes he had taken during the procedure. He placed the notebook upon a bookshelf off to the side of the lab, then sighed regretfully as he began cleaning up the mess of broken glass and destroyed manuscripts the Emperor had made.

The Beast Master came to her senses some time later. For a while, disoriented, she lay still; taking in the ruddy light cast upon the stone ceiling and wondering why she was lying naked upon a table. A twinge of pain brought it all back to her and she began to sit up slowly, aware that her pain increased with her movement.

“Ah, you're awake.” SkekTek spoke, shuffling over to her side. SkekEl touched her newly bandaged eye. “SkekTek, was the procedure a success?” She queried. “Yes, yes.” SkekTek waved his hand dismissively. “All went well. Leave the bandage for a day and a half and your sight will return.”

“Excellent!” SkekEl said. She sat up further and felt the stitching down her midsection, recognizing the source of her worst pain. She ponderously trailed a claw down the stitches, silently admiring the knit-work. “And the exploratory surgery?” She prompted.

“Ehg!” SkekTek let out a snort of disgust. “It was exceedingly enlightening, at least until the Emperor graced us with his presence.” He grumbled, shaking his head disdainfully. SkekEl's brows raised in surprise. “The Emperor was here?” She asked incredulously. The Scientist nodded.

“Unfortunately so. And he was most displeased. Destroyed some of my records and made me cease the operation, he did.” SkekTek briefly explained the incident. SkekEl swung her legs over the side of the table and delicately lowered herself until she stood somewhat unsteadily upon the floor. “He was upset?” She asked. “ _Most_ upset.” SkekTek assured. “He seemed to be under the impression that I had murdered you in cold blood.” He said.

SkekEl let out a bemused snort before clasping her hands together. “Why, he really does care!” She said, fluttering her eyes sarcastically. SkekTek grunted noncommittally. “More like he expects complete and utter compliance.” He replied.

SkekEl began pulling her robes back on over her head, smoothing down the layers of fabric until they lay in their accustomed place. Turning back to the Scientist she inclined her head respectfully. “I am in your debt.” She said. SkekTek shook his head and sighed. “Next time spare me your convoluted schemes.” He answered disdainfully.


End file.
